Editing SS Cap Arcona (section)

==Sinking==
On 3 May 1945, three days after [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] dictator [[Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler's suicide]] in [[Berlin]], and only one day before the [[German surrender at Lüneburg Heath|unconditional surrender of the German troops]] in northwestern Germany at [[Lüneburg Heath]] to [[British Army]] commander [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery]] (1887–1976), ''S.S. Cap Arcona'', ''S.S. Thielbek'', and the passenger liner ''S.S. Deutschland'' were attacked as part of general strikes on shipping in the [[Baltic Sea]] by [[Royal Air Force]] (R.A.F.) [[Hawker Typhoon]] fighter warplanes of [[No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group (United Kingdom)|No. 83 Expeditionary Air  Group]] of the [[2nd Tactical Air Force]]. Through secret code-breaking of [[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra]] Intelligence, the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] had become aware that most of the Nazi German SS leadership and former concentration camp commandants had gathered with [[Heinrich Himmler]] in [[Flensburg]],  hoping to contrive an escape northward to remaining German-occupied [[Norway]].<ref name="Wachsmann 2015 584"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Michael|title=After Hitler: The Last Days of the Second World War in Europe|year=2015|publisher=John Murray|pages=112}}</ref> The western allies had intercepted orders from Hitler's designated successor with the rump Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] government, also at [[Flensburg Government|Flensburg]], that the SS leadership were to be facilitated in escaping Allied capture{{snd}}or otherwise issued with false Kriegsmarine naval uniforms to conceal their identities<ref>{{cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|title=Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944–45 |year=2004 |publisher=Macmillan|pages=567–568}}</ref>{{snd}}as Admiral Dönitz sought, while surrendering, to maintain the fiction that his administration had been free from involvement in the concentration camps, or in Hitler's policies of genocide and the revealing Holocaust.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kershaw|first=Ian|title=The End: Germany 1944–45 |year=2011 |publisher=Allen Lane|pages=359}}</ref>

The British R.A.F. military aircraft were from the units of [[No. 184 Squadron RAF|No. 184 Squadron]], [[No. 193 Squadron RAF|No. 193 Squadron]], [[No. 263 Squadron RAF|No. 263 Squadron]], [[No. 197 Squadron RAF]], and [[No. 198 Squadron RAF|No. 198 Squadron]]. Besides four [[Hispano-Suiza HS.404|20 mm cannon]], these [[Hawker Typhoon#Specifications .28Typhoon Mk Ib.29|Hawker Typhoon Mark 1B]] fighter-bombers carried either eight [[High Explosive|HE]] [[RP-3|"60-lb" RP-3 unguided rockets]] or two {{convert|500|lb|kg|abbr=on}} bombs.

None of the prison flotilla were painted / marked with Red Cross symbols (although the ''Deutschland'' had previously been intended as a hospital ship, and retained one white painted funnel with a red cross), and all prisoners were concealed below deck, so the pilots in the attacking force were unaware that they were laden with concentration camp survivors. Although Swedish and Swiss Red Cross officials had informed British intelligence on 2 May 1945 of the presence of large numbers of prisoners on ships at anchor in Lübeck Bay, this vital information was not passed on.<ref group="note">From the Till report of June 1945:

"The Intelligence Officer with the 83 Air Group of the R.A.F. has admitted on two occasions; first to Lt H. F. Ansell of this Team (when it was confirmed by a [[Wing commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] present), and on a second occasion to the Investigating Officer when he was accompanied by Lt. H. F. Ansell, that a message was received on 2 May 1945 that these ships were loaded with [[Konzentrationslager]] (KZ) prisoners, but that, although there was ample time to warn the pilots of the military planes who attacked these ships on the following day, by some oversight the message was never passed on...

From the facts and from the statement volunteered by the R.A.F, Intelligence Officer, it appears that the primary responsibility for this great loss of life must fall on the British R.A.F. command personnel who failed to pass to the fighter pilots the message they received concerning the presence of KZ prisoners on board these ships." See:  Jacobs and Pool, 2004 and Till, 1945.</ref> The R.A.F. commanders ordering the strike believed that a flotilla of ships was being prepared in Lübeck Bay, to accommodate leading SS personnel fleeing to [[German occupation of Norway|German-controlled Norway]] in accordance with Admiral Dönitz's orders.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|loc=inside front cover}}<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4505-bilder/cap-ohne-bug.jpg |title=''Cap Arcona'', May 1945 |publisher=Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart}}</ref> "The ships are gathering in the area of Lübeck and Kiel. At S.H.A.E.F. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, commanded by Gen. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]), it is believed that important Nazis who have escaped from Berlin to Flensburg are onboard, and are fleeing to Norway or neutral countries".<ref name="Jones 2015 111"/>

Equipped with lifejackets from locked storage compartments, most of the SS guards managed to jump overboard from ''S.S. Cap Arcona''. German trawlers sent to rescue ''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors, 400 German SS men, and 20 SS women. Only 350 of the 5,000 former concentration camp inmates aboard ''Cap Arcona'' survived.<ref name=vaughan/> From 2,800 prisoners on board the ''S.S. Thielbek'' only 50 were saved; whereas all 2,000 prisoners on the ''[[SS Deutschland (1923)|S.S. Deutschland]]'' were safely taken off onto the ''S.S. Athen'', before the ''Deutschland'' capsized.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Martin|title=The Second World War; a complete history|year=1989|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|pages=684}}</ref>

R.A.F. Pilot Allan Wyse of No. 193 Squadron recalled, "We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water... we shot them up with 20 mm cannons in the water. Horrible thing, but we were told to do it and we did it. That's war."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-03-07/f02-uk.html |work=Shanghai Star |date=7 March 2000 |title=British error killed WW2 camp inmates |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107011021/http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-03-07/f02-uk.html |archive-date=7 November 2015 }}</ref>

Severely damaged and set on fire, the ''Cap Arcona'' eventually capsized. Photos of the burning ships, listed as ''Deutschland'', ''Thielbek'', and ''Cap Arcona'', and of the emaciated prisoner survivors swimming in the very cold Baltic Sea waters, around {{convert|7|C|F}}, were taken on a reconnaissance mission over the Bay of Lübeck by [[North American P-51 Mustang|F-6 Mustang]] (the photo-[[reconnaissance]] version of the P-51) of the Allied  [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF)'s [[18th Reconnaissance Squadron|18th / 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron]] around 1700 hrs, shortly after the attack.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//arcona.html |title=The Sinking of the Thielbek |publisher=.uni-hamburg.de |access-date=25 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717073335/http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//arcona.html |archive-date=17 July 2012 }}</ref>

On 4 May 1945, a British reconnaissance plane also took photos of the two wrecks, ''Thielbek'' and ''Cap Arcona'',<ref>No. 19 German magazine ''Schiffe Menschen Schicksale'', ''Schnelldampfer "Cap Arcona"'', p. 37.</ref> With the Bay of Neustadt being shallow. The capsized hulk of ''Cap Arcona'' later drifted ashore, and the remains of the beached wreck was finally broken up and scrapped four years later in 1949. For weeks after the attack, bodies of victims washed ashore, where they were collected and buried in mass graves at [[Neustadt in Holstein]], [[Scharbeutz]] and [[Timmendorfer Strand]].<ref>{{citation |title=Ik was 20 in 1944 | year=1995 |first=Raymond |last=van Pée |url=http://www.getuigen.be/Getuigenis/Van-Pee-Raymond/tkst.htm |language=nl}}</ref> Parts of skeletons washed ashore occasionally over the next 30 years, with the last casualty find occurring in 1971.<ref name=Schwarberg>{{harvnb|Schwarberg|1998|p=}}</ref>

The prisoners aboard the ships were of at least 30 different nationalities: American, Belarrussian, Belgian, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourger, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss, Ukrainian, and possibly others.<ref name=Schwarberg/>

===Notable survivors===

* Francis Akos (1922–2016), born Weinman Akos Ferencz in Budapest, Hungary; Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist
*Heinrich Bertram (1897–1956), captain of ''Cap Arcona''<ref>{{in lang|de}}
* [[Günther Schwarberg]], ''Angriffsziel "Cap Arcona"'', Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 1998, {{ISBN|3-88243-590-9}}</ref>
* [[Emil František Burian]] (1904–1959), musician and theatrical director, founder of Theatre D, a leading avant-garde theatre in inter-war Europe
* [[Erwin Geschonneck]] (1906–2008), who later became a notable German actor, and whose story was made into a feature film in 1982<ref>* [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/12/arts/EU-A-E-MOV-Germany-Obit-Geschonneck.php International Herald Tribune: Famed East German actor, jailed by Nazi Germans for Communist sympathies, dies at 101]</ref>
* [[Ernst Goldenbaum]] (1898–1990), [[German Democratic Republic]] (D.D.R./G.D.R.) - [[East Germany|East German]] ([[Communist]]) politician
* [[Benjamin Jacobs (dentist)|Benjamin Jacobs]] (1919–2004) born Berek Jakubowicz in [[Dobra, Poland]]; dentist, Holocaust speaker and author{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004}}
* [[Philip Jackson (deportee)|Philip Jackson]] (1928–2016), son of an American medical doctor / surgeon, Sumner Jackson, killed in the attacks{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|pp=154–156}}
* [[Hans van Ketwich Verschuur]] (1905–1995), Dutch [[Red Cross]] and [[Scouting|Boy Scouting]] official.
*[[Heinz Lord]] (1917–1961), German-American surgeon
* [[:fr:André Migdal|André Migdal]] (1924–2007), French [[French Resistance|resistant]], Holocaust speaker and author, poet, survivor of ''Athen''<ref>{{in lang|fr}}
* Migdal, André, ''Les plages de sable rouge. La tragédie de Lübeck, 3 mai 1945.'' NM7 éditions, Paris 2001, {{ISBN|2-913973-20-5}}.
</ref>

* [[Sam Pivnik]] (1926–2017), art dealer and lecturer on [[The Holocaust]]<ref>{{in lang|de}} Lange, Wilhelm ''Cap Arcona: Das tragische Ende der KZ-Häftlings-Flotte am 3. Mai 1945'' Helmut Kaun, Eutin (1992).</ref>
*[[Josef Štěrba]] (1905–1977), (Communist) Czech politician
* [[Gustaaf Van Essche]] (1923–1979), [[Belgium|Belgian]] politician<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.seniorennet.be/wereldoorlog2_concentratiekampen5/archief.php?startaantal=10|title=Overleden in Concentratiekampen, U tot Z|website=blog.seniorennet.be}}</ref>

===Monuments and memorials===
<gallery class="center" mode="packed">
File:Neustadt Holstein Cap Arcona.jpg|Monument to the ''Cap Arcona'' and {{SS|Thielbek|1940|2}} victims at [[Neustadt in Holstein]]
File:Timmendorfer-Strand-Waldfriedhof-Cap-Arcona-Gedenkstätte.JPG|Monument in the Waldfriedhof at [[Timmendorfer Strand]] to 810 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Neustadt-in-holstein-jüdischer-friedhof-kz-nummern.JPG|Jewish cemetery in Neustadt in Holstein for 100 Jewish victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Grömitz-st.-nicolaikirche-kirchenfriedhof-cap-arcona-gedenkstele.JPG|Monument to 91 victims of ''Cap Arcona'' in the cemetery of St Nicolas' church in [[Grömitz]]
File:Grevesmühlen-cap-arcona-friedhof-umfriedung.JPG|Cemetery and monument in [[Grevesmühlen]] for 407 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Cenoteph of Cap Arcona.JPG|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' in [[Klütz]]
</gallery><gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="225px">
File:Cap-Arcona-Opfer-Gedenkstein-Timmendorfer-Strand-Niendorf.JPG|Monument in the cemetery of Niendorf in [[Timmendorfer Strand]] to 113 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Scharbeutz Ehrenfriedhof Cap-Arcona Uebersicht zentral.JPG|Memorial plaque in the "honour cemetery" near [[Haffkrug]]
File:Mahnmal Poel.JPG|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' on [[Poel]] Island
File:Gedenkstätte Cap Arcona Groß Schwansee.jpg|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' at Groß Schwansee near [[Kalkhorst]]
File:Hrdlicka Gegendenkmal Detail.jpg|Detail of the memorial against the war (1985/86) by [[Alfred Hrdlicka]], a counter-monument to the Memorial of the Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 76 (1936) by [[Richard Kuöhl]] in [[Hamburg]]
</gallery>